Chunky Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Chocolate Chipsters (TWD) and My Blogiversary!

Blogiversary... blogoversary... blogversary... I'm not sure what the proper term is, given that it's a totally made up word, anyway. I find it hard to believe, but exactly one year ago today, I started this blog. It's come a long way since then :)

I've met so many kind, witty, generous, and talented foodie friends and discovered a plethora of wonderful blogs along the way (in fact, there are so many, I don't have enough time to visit them all as often as I'd like!).

I've learned the importance of good lighting in food photography and drive my husband crazy on a regular basis while I photograph the food before allowing him to dig in. I'm still working on getting better props and a nice light box, but for now I've at least learned how to adjust the settings on my camera to get better pictures when I am forced to shoot with indoor/fluorescent lighting. I think I've learned to take pretty decent photos for an amateur using a point and shoot camera (Canon Powershot SD1000).

I've joined two baking groups that challenge me on a regular basis to learn new techniques and perfect my baking skills - The Daring Bakers and Tuesdays with Dorie. I can't tell you how much I have grown in the kitchen thanks to these groups.

With the evolution of my blog, I'm working on redesigning its look and giving it a makeover, but for now you'll have to settle for a new, easier to remember URL - www.goodeatsblog.com (the old URL will automatically redirect to this site).

Surprisingly, I have found that I've developed a pretty decent following - so to my loyal readers, I thank you! I am eager for what the next year holds and hope you'll continue to come along for the ride. Now on to the cookies...


This week's Tuesdays with Dorie (TWD) recipe was chosen by Stefany of Proceed with Caution: Chunky Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Chocolate Chipsters. What a wonderful trio - it's like a chocolate chip cookie collided with an oatmeal cookie and peanut butter cookie.



The cookies are best if the dough is chilled for at least 2 hours before baking, so this isn't the best cookie recipe to make on a whim. Dorie states that chilling the dough will yield more evenly shaped cookies. A lot of bakers, myself included, decided to make the cookie dough and then refrigerate overnight. There were a few reports that the dough became so hard after chilling overnight that it broke a few cookie scoops! So if you do decide to chill the dough overnight, make sure you let it sit on the counter for a few minutes before you start scooping it :)


These were nice and crisp around the edges, and chewy in the middle. The cinnamon spice is noteable, but not overwhelming. Betweeen all the peanut butter and chocolate, these were pretty rich, so I found that they were best enjoyed with a cold glass of milk.


There were several comments that the peanut butter flavor was quite subtle, and even the peanut butter haters among us enjoyed this cookie, but I thought the peanut butter flavor was quite pronounced. I have a feeling that it probably has something to do with the type of peanut butter you use in this recipe (I used Jif Extra Crunchy).



Thanks Stefany, for choosing the Chunky Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Chocolate Chipsters. If you would like the recipe for these cookies, you can find it here on Stefany's blog. Make sure you visit the TWD Blog Roll to see how everyone else enjoyed this great after school treat.

*Note: I only made one change to this recipe - I used semisweet chocolate instead of bittersweet. For recipe tips, click here.